What to buy for a stylish bathroom, according to Darren Palmer

Good luck finding someone more skilled in the art of styling a space than interior designer, and The Block judge, Darren Palmer. His ability to transform a space with considered pieces knows no bounds so when we had the chance to peep his shoppable list on Amazon we had to ask him all about his must-haves for a stylish bathroom.

If you're looking to update your space, enjoy Darren's aesthetically pleasing and affordable list of bathroom buys and his tips on how to make them work for your space.

The goal of styling a bathroom is to paint its perfect use, to create a mood and to link elements together that might not otherwise link – it serves a pretty important purpose. If you're looking to style well, you want to look for a vignette of small and useful but beautiful things. Like a sponge, loofa or a body brush – not those hideous ones with the long stems but something that's short and cute. The idea is to find the most aesthetically pleasing version of something that you use functionally so if it's soap it's beautiful soap if it's a body bar it's a beautiful body bar, if it's a toothbrush holder it's a beautiful one on a tray.

Buy Darren's pick

Towels

It used to all be about white simple towels and now towels are an opportunity for colour and texture and pattern. They're another decorating item to help tie things in and elevate a space. A really simple way to elevate your towel rail is to use the same sized towel in a similar fabric, one in a block colour, one a pattern that has the same colour in it – that will work a treat!

In my bathroom, I've styled two complementary but contrasting towels. With a flat-coloured towel and then a patterned towel, the colours link but one is a block colour and one is a pattern, which helps them to layer beautifully. They're the same size and similar material so that's a nice simple way to get an added punch of colour and texture and pattern all in one.

Try these:

Turkish hand towel

Coral fleece towel set

Stone mats

I'd never seen a bath mat like this before, it's a natural material that absorbs water the second you step on it. It blew my mind a bath mat like this before – this thing's cool! Would I have that in my home? Yeah, I would. To have that functionality in there that's not that soft fuzzy thing under foot I think it's cool, I think it's interesting from an amenity point of view.

Buy it here:

Stone bath mat - $70

Lights

As well as being a smart solution for renters, motion sensor lights are also really functional task lights. I recommend a mini motion sensor light for the bathroom, so if you haven't wired in that functionality or you've got little kids or if you find yourself getting up in the middle of the night you can put these motion sensor lights at a low hidden location so that when you walk past them the sensor will go off and it lights your way.

Buy them here:

Battery-powered LED light - $17.99

Art

There is a place for art in bathrooms, but it has to be appropriate. An actual real painting with real paint is not a great idea because it would be affected by moisture and would probably deteriorate, but a printed canvas that you can spray and wipe clean – yeah – why not? It's a good way to cover up ugly tiles too – definitely not in the shower, of course.

On the list:

Buy this print for $129

Buy this print for $99

Storage

Storage systems, like baskets or dividers so you can actually keep your things in order are a great way to create room in existing cupboards and that's why I put in things like makeup caddies.

Options to buy:

Expandable drawer dividers, $41.99

Makeup organiser, $31.33

Decorative storage basket set of 3, $49.97

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